all. May the Lord give you largeness of heart, as the sands of the sea; and in entering on a new period of time may it be with entire consecration to Christ. It has always been one of the capital articles in our creed that the gospel should be preached to every creature; but it is no use having it in our creed unless we act accordingly, and show by our earnest lives the sincerity and depth of our convictions. On you, in connection with American churches, rests the responsibility of endeavouring that every man, woman, and child in Orissa shall know that blessed gospel.

JOHN BUCKLEY.

QUEENSLAND.

[Extract of a letter recently received from Queensland by Mr. Mathews, of Boston, to whom letters on the subject of it may be addressed.]

Brisbane, April 16, 1870. WE go on much about the same, losing some and gaining others. Our good chapel is out of debt. When the depression came on we told our dear pastor that we would not bind ourselves to continue his salary at £400, but would do our best to keep it as near as possible. It has since averaged about £350.

We are a thorough General Baptist body, in fact there are few "Particulars" in Queensland,-only one feeble organized church,-while we have a chapel in Rockhampton and Maryborough, without ministers; at Bowen, a talented minister, whom we baptized from the Methodist New Connexion; and other places where Generals could be placed with advantage, if a Society were established at home that would, like the Methodists, Presbyterians, Independents, in fact all others besides, give some help for two or three years, until the causes would become self-supporting. Our pastor is desirous of going to England to advocate such a plan. A Mr. Arundale, who is a friend of the Rev. Mr. Clifford's, has been here, as well as over Australia, and as he is on his way home, will be able to give valuable confirmation. The General Baptist body never had such an opportunity of doing good, and ultimately adding two or three young nations, who, in their coming strength, and being so near

India, &c., may, in some future years, accomplish more for those nations than has been done with all the money spent by our denomination in Britain. All that is now urgently required is to assist in nursing our infant churches into manhood. I often feel ashamed to see other sects passing us in the race owing to the help given them from home, and we are left to struggle none of you having ever cared for us. If you had sent us the right men I believe we would, as a denomination, have been second to none. Mr. Voller, of Sydney, who has lost his voice, and resigned in favour of your brother Greenwood, of Nottingham, had been with us for a few weeks. I ought to mention that all the New South Wales ministers, with a trifling exception, are Generals. We anxiously hope Mr. Greenwood will be the right man, if so, he will be in the right place. Our pastor wishes he had known you before he left England. We all join in love to you most affectionately. JAMES SWAN.

OTHER SOCIETIES.

Gleanings from the Seventy-first Report of the Church Missionary Society. THE Committee, in presenting their annual financial statement, have a less grateful task than on many previous Occasions: they have to announce a very serious excess of expenditure above the income. The expenditure has amounted to £157,247 9s. 8d.; the income to £141,828 10s. 7d.; showing a deficiency of £15,418 19s. 1d.

In comparing the income of this with that of the previous year, there would appear to be a falling off to the amount of £13,365 18s. But this arises from the exceptionally large amount of legacies and donations which fell in during last year.

The contributions from Associations, which form the life-blood of the Society, have nearly reached the average of the last few years; but the expenditure of the Society has, during the same period, advanced so rapidly, that it must be distinctly stated that the expenditure is at this time in excess of receipts to the amount of at least £12,000.

In explanation of this, the Committee must remind their friends, that at the termination of the Indian Mutiny the christian public were urgent, and the So

ciety showed itself prompt, to strengthen and extend their missions in that land. A special Indian fund was opened, which supplied about £10,000 a year for seven years. When that special fund was exhausted, in the year 1864, this Committee appealed successfully to the country to increase the income to the extent of £10,000 a year to keep up the Indian missions at their advanced expenditure. Another crisis has now occurred: the impulse given to the enlargement of our missions has outrun the expectations of the committee in 1864, while, moreover, the expenses of living in India and in other countries have been rising continually. Not only, therefore, is special effort needed to wipe off the present deficit, but increased exertion to augment the income by at least £10,000, in order to keep up the missions on their present scale.

The question therefore is-Shall the expenditure be cut down by curtailments and retrenchments which must cause most serious embarrassments, and seem, indeed, impossible to contemplate; or will the members and friends of the Society resolve that increased exertions over a wider range shall supply the committee with a steady reliable income, adequate not only to the maintenance of the existing agency, but sufficient to meet the calls for gradual expansion, and for entry on fresh fields which are now pressing upon the Society from almost every quarter of the world?

NUMBER OF LABOURERS.

Nine European clergymen and two European female teachers have been sent forth during the year: five European and four native clergymen have been removed by death; and six clergymen and one laymen have, on account of health and other causes, ceased to be connected with the Society. The number of European labourers in full connexion with the Society is as follows:Abroad

Ordained European Missionaries 153
Unordained European Labourers 13
European Female Teachers ..

At Home

6

:

-172

58

Showing an increase of one clergyman; decrease of three laymen; and an increase of three female teachers.

The number of ordained native and country-born labourers is one hundred and fourteen.

WEST AFRICA MISSION.

Sierra Leone is not now so much a mission station as the head-quarters for African mission extension. The native church seems firmly established. The voluntary contributions of native christians towards its support are steadily increasing, having risen from £585 in the year 1862, to £798 in the year 1868. Connected with the pastorate there are now ten principal stations and eighteen out-stations. Each station has a substantial stone church, with a congregation varying from two hundred to seven hundred persons. In the out-stations the services are conducted by native catechists or schoolmasters. The selfsupporting grammar school, with its hundred pupils, and zealous African principal, continues to prosper. One of its former scholars, the Rev. Henry Johnson, who was lately in this country, is now acting as a linguist for the translation of the Scriptures into the language of the tribes adjoining the colony. The Fourah Bay College still sends out promising recruits for evangelistic and pastoral work. Its present principal is about to return home. The Society look to the younger clergy_ in England for a competent successor. The female institution, which furnishes education for the higher classes, and which is rendered more than ever necessary by the active efforts of the ladies belonging the Roman Catholic Mission, is still efficiently maintained. Christianity in Sierra Leone has produced on the whole effects not dissimilar from those which may be observed in Protestant countries generally. In Sierra Leone, as in England, many openly neglect religion, many are mere professors, and in God's own children there are many faults and blemishes; yet there also, as in England, the power of the gospel makes itself felt and perceived in many ways, both temporally and spiritually.

There are still heathen in the colony itself. Amongst one section of these, the Kroomen, the preaching of the gospel has, during the last year, produced marked effect.

Branching out from Sierra Leone, missionary effort has been pushed northward, eastward, and southward. These efforts are still in their infancy. In Sherbro, to the south, but little has yet been accomplished. Some results have begun to be seen in British Quiah to the east; while to the north, in the Bullom Country, the good work is still more solidly progressing. It is an interesting fact that these fields of missionary labour are watched over with parental solicitude by the native church, and are largely supplied by them with men and

means.

The Rev. H. J. Alcock, the Principal of the Fourah Bay Institution above referred to, after describing the course of study, remarks-"I consider the African intellect, with similar advantages, quite equal to the European, and I must confess I would any day as soon teach coloured students as European."

NIGER MISSION.

In this deeply interesting field the native African bishop, Dr. Samuel Adjai Crowther, himself the fruit of the Society's work, has continued his labours during the year. His associates, all of them Africans, are five native clergy and twelve or more unordained teachers. The reports for the two preceding years had to speak of persecution and violent assaults from heathen adversaries. This feature has, through God's mercy, disappeared.

At Lokoja, on the Confluence of the rivers Niger and Tshadda, and at Onitsha nearer the mouth of the river, the work has been proceeding peacefully and prosperously.

At the stations on the coast itself, where the inhabitants have for many years come in contact with European trade, but not with christian missionaries, the population is less civilized, and, in almost every respect, more degraded. Cannibalism and the most debasing superstitions still prevail. Yet the efforts of Bishop Crowther and his fellow-labourers have not been fruitless. The native chiefs welcome the preaching of the gospel, and encourage education. At Bonny, where the prospects had been brightest, and where some degrading heathen customs had been abolished, the work has been for several months inter

rupted by civil war. The native agents

have courageously clung to the work in the midst of personal danger, and are still able to assemble the christians for public worship, though the schools have been closed.

MEDITERRANEAN MISSION.

The Society's mission in the Mediterranean was mainly intended for the Moslems. The door is at present but partially opened. The public preaching of the gospel to Mohammedans is not possible in any part of the Turkish Empire. Other methods are therefore attempted. Private conversation is held with individuals. Oriental christians are urged to study God's word, and to make it known to their Moslem countrymen. The Scriptures are widely and largely distributed christian tracts, and even controversial works, meet with some circulation.

In Constantinople and the neighbouring provinces a spirit of inquiry is evidently abroad, even amongst the Turks, though concealed and suppressed. Not a few assure the missionary of their disbelief in Islam; while some seem earnestly inquiring after Christ.

The tone of the annual letter from Smyrna is somewhat more hopeful than usual; though no serious inquirers have come forward among the Turks, nor is there any general movement among the Greek christians.

;

The missionaries report that a Greek Romish priest published a tract in defence of papal supremacy. This was speedily answered in the leading local journal, and has since led to the appearance of a religious newspaper, edited by a Greek christian, which is sternly opposed to Romanism, but courteous and friendly towards Protestants. About this time the Greek Archbishop died. The Protestant clergy, English and American, were amongst those invited to attend the funeral; and one of them, a missionary, was asked to offer prayer on the occasion. Great satisfaction was afterwards expressed by Greeks of all classes at the part taken by the Protestant clergy in the ceremony. The Society's missionaries are composing tracts in the Greco-Turkish dialect, the only language understood by the Greeks of the interior.

The Rev. F. A. Klein, of Jerusalem, has not been able this year to renew his journey, as he wished to do, in the re

gion beyond the Jordan. Some of the leading men, however, from that district have visited Mr. Klein, and communication has been kept up by letter. Mr. Klein has also been busy with the pen and the press. He is preparing an Arabic biography of Mohammed, a translation in the same language of Dr. Koelle's Life of Christ, and an ArabicEnglish Dictionary; and has also printed 500 copies of a tract proving the genuineness of the New Testament.

Dr. Sandreczki continues his varied labours. The committee have been desirous that pious native young men, willing to be engaged in mission work, might be placed under Dr. Sandreczki's instruction. The only pupil hitherto obtained is a young Druse, who, after studying some months with Dr. Sandreczki, was placed under Mr. Zeller's care at Nazareth. In addition to this work, Dr. Sandreczki holds meetings on the Lord's-day in Turkish, Greek, and Italian, for the religious instruction of inquirers; visits the hospital and leper asylum; and makes occasional missionary excursions to neighbouring villages. In these tours the villagers, both Moslem and christian, willingly listen to the glad tidings of salvation as delivered by the missionary and his assistants.

Upwards of 500 Protestant christians are connected with the Nazareth Mission, and 130 children attend the mission schools. Direct work among the Moslems does not seem practicable as yet, and consequently there are no adult baptisms. The work at this station was, at the commencement of the year, under the care of the Rev. J. Zeller, assisted by a European catechist, Mr. J. Huber. In April, 1869, Mr. Zeller left Palestine to recruit his health by a visit to Europe. During his absence the general superintendence of the mission was entrusted to the Rev. J. Gruhler, of Bishop Gobat's Mission.

The building of the new Protestant church at Nazareth is making progress, but peculiar local circumstances greatly retard the work.

INDIAN MISSION.

The Report contains an interesting "General View of the Society's Missions in India." We cannot glean from it with advantage, but hope to give the whole sheaf on a future occasion.

CHINA MISSION.

The committee have endeavoured to strengthen the China mission. The preceding report announced the return of two veteran missionaries, long detained in this country. During the year just closed four younger brethren have been set apart for the work, three of whom have set sail for that country; while another devoted labourer, who had visited England on furlough, has been enabled to return to his work in recruited health. Large portions of China are still open to missionary effort, notwithstanding the hostile action of some of the native authorities. "Onward and inward," the senior missionary writes, "must now be our motto."

Hong-Kong.-The Rev. J. Piper is still single-handed at this difficult station. The work, however, has not been unfruitful. "Beside our two Sunday services and the weekly Bible class, which are mostly confined to the members of the church, we have preaching to the heathen five nights a week. These latter are well attended and orderly gatherings. And I think I may safely say that from 10,000 to 15,000 Chinese annually hear in our mission church 'the truth as it is in Jesus.'

Fuh-Chau.-The Rev. J. R. Wolfe is able to report forty-five adult baptisms during the year. The number of inquirers has increased still more largely, so that those under christian instruction in the Fuh-Chau district amount to upwards of 400, of whom 120 are commucants. The prominent feature in this mission district during the last year has been the disturbances at Lo-nguong. Though no similar outrages took place in other parts of the district, the effects have been felt more or less throughout it, and especially in the city of FuhChau itself.

Ningpo.-The Rev. W. A. Russell is senior missionary at Ningpo, and also the Society's secretary for the China Mission. The native christians in connection with the mission at Ningpo amount to 400, of whom no fewer than 270 are communicants. With the view of calling into activity the Chinese christian laity, Mr. Russell has united some of them with himself in a Church Council. To this body is entrusted "the settlement of various difficulties of native

christians, the selection of native agents for evangelistic and other work, the distribution of offertory money, and the administration of the native church fund." The missionary also derives help from his lay fellow-councillors in judging of the fitness of candidates for baptism, and in the exercise of church discipline. They exhibit, he says, "much practical shrewdness, much nice discrimination of character, and much accurate appreciation of the different cases brought before them."

Hang-Chow.-The Rev. H. Gretton, who has not been long enough in China to master the peculiar difficulties of the vernacular, has been almost singlehanded in this large and beautifully situated city. His only helper is a pious and energetic Chinese Bible-woman. Of her he writes as follows:-" She is certainly the most energetic and active woman that I have yet seen among the daughters of China, and thoroughly devoted to the work of making the gospel known to her fellow-country women. One fact alone will speak more for her work than a page full of praises. Of the

twelve communicants now on the roll, ten are women, and, on the whole, they are very sincere and devoted christians. She is conversant both with the Chinese character and with the Roman system of writing, and is very successful in teaching the Roman system to the women christians, thus enabling those who could not read a single word in the Chinesecharacter Testament to read and understand all those parts of the Bible that are printed in the Roman character. The Bible woman, as you are doubtless aware, is not in the pay of the Society, but is supported by the family and friends of the Rev. G. E. Moule." One adult has been baptized, and there are a few inquirers.

Summary of the China Mission.
Stations..

Native Clergymen
Native Lay Teachers
Native Communicants..
Native Christians..
Schools..
Scholars

..

2

53

437

853

19

316

BERHAMPORE.-G. Taylor, April 21; May 25. CUTTACK.-J. Buckley, April 22, 30; May 7; June 22.

CUTTACK.-T. Bailey, May 7.
Miss Guignard, May 2.
PIPLEE.-W. Brooks, May 12.